Don’t Reduce Malala Yousafzai to a Cuddly Caricature of the “Bravest Girl in the World”

[Enrique]

1. very good read

people are treating her as if she is not political. In fact she is very political and it's more than just the Taliban that is threatened by her.

It reminds me a lot of Martin Luther King after he died, the difference being that Malala is still alive.

There is something irritatingly smug and condescending about some of the coverage of “the bravest girl in the world.” It was a particular low point when, on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart said “I want to adopt you” to a young woman who’s spoken very publicly about the support she’s received from her father—a pretty brave guy in his own right.

But that’s our problem, not hers. My guess is that someone’s who’s comfortable telling the president of the United States to his face that his military policies are fueling terrorism isn’t going to let herself be reduced to a cuddly caricature. And in any case, it was probably wise for the Nobel committee to pair the very young global celebrity with a relatively unheralded activist with years of work behind him.